Religious Intent 
A Christian America? A secular America? Steven Waldman argues the founders had in mind something else entirely.
Source: www.nytimes.com
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us, the one who seems made of flesh rather than marble. In this authoritative and engrossing full-scale biography, Walter Isaacson shows how the most fascinating of America's founders helped define our national character.
In a sweeping narrative that follows Franklin's life from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Paris and back, Isaacson chronicles the adventures of the spunky runaway apprentice who became, during his 84-year life, America's best writer, inventor, media baron, scientist, diplomat, and business strategist, as well as one of its most practical and ingenious political leaders. He explores the wit behind Poor Richard's Almanac and the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence, the new nation's alliance with France, the treaty that ended the Revolution, and the compromises that created a near-perfect Constitution.
Above all, Isaacson shows how Franklin's unwavering faith in the wisdom of the common citizen and his instinctive appreciation for the possibilities of democracy helped to forge an American national identity based on the virtues and values of its middle class.
Author: Walter Isaacson
Paperback: 608 pages Bargain Price
Company: Simon & Schuster (2004-05-04)
List Price: $16.95
Amazon Price: $6.49
Used Price: $11.69
Source: www.amazon.com
Russian Princess Stands With Franklin as Comrade of the Enlightenment 
Ekaterina Dashkova, a Russian princess, was the first woman in the world to head a national academy of sciences. It is a rarity to this day.
Source: www.nytimes.com
The Great Seduction
The most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money.
Source: www.nytimes.com
Nonfiction Chronicle
New books by Philip Dray, Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels, John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger, Brian Murphy and Jesse Helms.
Source: www.nytimes.com
Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School
A mention of flatulence might conjure images of bratty high school boys or lowbrow comics. But one of the most eloquent - and least expected - commentators on the subject is Benjamin Franklin. The writings in Fart Proudly reveal the rogue who lived peaceably within the philosopher and statesman. Included are "The Letter to a Royal Academy"; "On Choosing a Mistress"; "Rules on Making Oneself Disagreeable"; and other jibes. Franklin's irrepressible wit found an outlet in perpetrating hoaxes, attacking marriage and other sacred cows, and skewering the English Parliament. Reminding us of the humorous, irreverent side of this American icon, these essays endure as both hilarious satire and a timely reminder of the importance of a free press.
Paperback: 128 pages
Company: Frog Books (2003-05) (2003-03-31)
ISBN: 1583940790
List Price: $12.95
Amazon Price: $7.25
Used Price: $3.83
Source: www.amazon.com
Benjamin Franklin Books
Benjamin Franklin, who turns 300 this year, has received a fine birthday gift in these two volumes.
Source: www.nytimes.com
Tags: Benjamin Franklin, Washington, 1776
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